Solomon
Proverbs 9:17ESV·traditional attribution

“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

Matthew Henry Presbyterian @wholebiblehenry

We have heard what Christ has to say, to engage our affections to God and godliness, and one would think the whole world should go after him; but here we are told how industrious the tempter is to seduce unwary souls into the paths of sin, and with the most he gains his point, and Wisdom's courtship is not effectual. Now observe, I.

Commenting on Proverbs 9:13-18

John Gill Reformed Baptist @doctorgill

But he knoweth not that the dead are there,.... In the house of this foolish and wicked woman, into which she invites passengers to turn; the simple, that is persuaded by her, does not consider that there are none there to be his companions, but such who are dead in a moral or spiritual sense; that, though they live in pleasure, they are dead while they live.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Reformed @jfbcommentary

The language of a proverb, meaning that forbidden delights are sweet and pleasant, as fruits of risk and danger.